Improvement in letter-sheet envelopes or double postal cards



L. H. ROGERS. Letter-Sheet Envelope or Double Postal-Card.

No. 215,776. Patented May 27, 1879.

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TNITED STATESPATENT OFFrcn.

LEBBEUS H. ROGERS,

oF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN LETTER-SHEET ENVELOPES OR DOUBLE POSTAL CARDS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 215,776., dated May 2.7, 1879; application filed January 31, 1879.

To all 'whom it may concern.:

Be it known that I, LEBBEUs H. ROGERS, of New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Letter Sheet Envelopes or Double Postal Cards, which improvement is fully set forth in the following specification.

This invention relates more particularly to what are known as combined envelopes and lettersheets, or letter-sheet envelopes, and sometimes as double postal cards.

In this class of articles the message is written upon the letter-sheet, which is then folded upon itself, and the ends or edges or both are sealed, so that the message written is inclosed, and the folded sheet itself serves as the envelope. Double postal card 7 is the name ordinarily used when it is designed that the receiver of the message may use a portion of the letter-sheet for a return message by tearing it off and mailing it backto the sender.

To facilitate opening or breaking the seal of such an envelope-sheet; it is customary to provide lines or rows of perforations.

Various modes of arranging these perforations and of making letter-sheet envelopes or double postal cards have been heretofore proposed or embodied in the manufactured article.

The object of the present invention is to produce an article which shall possess certain advantages over those heretofore known, and in which defects now existing in them shall be obviated.

What these defects and advantages are, and the manner in which the same are overcome yor/obtained, will be set forth below.

Figures l, 3, 4, and 5 represent open lettersheet envelopes or double postal cards made in accordance with myinvention, and Fig. 2 a

view closed of the open sheets represented in Figs. 1, 3, and 5.

The same letters refer to like parts on all the figures.

A represents the upper fold.; B, the lower fold 5 C, the flaps attached to one or both of aforesaid fold; D, a middle fold, (see Fig. 5 5)..

G, M, N, and F, lines of perforations; 1 l and 2 2, (see Fig. 4,) detachable sealing-borders;l and x, a line of folding. The portions to which gum for sealing is applied are designated by fine lines.

Referring to Figure 1, the lower half or fold,

B, is folded over onto the upper half, A. The entire portion above the line N I call the lines M, T, and N, although it may be used for j sealing the iap, is intended for a different purpose, as hereinafter explained.

When the sheet is sealed, it will appear as in Fig. 2, the sides beingopen. In order. to open the sheet that portion above the line M and N, Fig. 2, is severed by aid of the perforations.

If it is desired to seal the sides, various plans of wings now used can be added, or wings made on the same principle as above iiap, with the lines of perforations M, T, and N, can be used.

It is not absolutely necessary to have a line of perforations at T, as a crease or other kind of folding-line will answer; but`a line of perforations makes a better folding-line for a flat surface than any other devised way.

The lower half or fold, B, can be separated from the upper half or fold, A, by a line of perforations, G, thus enabling half of the sheet to Vbe torn off and used for a return postal card,

a government one-cent stamp being printed on` the lower as well as the upper half; but if it is desired to not separate the two halves, and the receiver wishes to return his answer on the same sheet he has received, then I ar- Y I .l M

range my double card as in Fig. 3, by which the fold B has a flap similar to fold A, so that when the receiver has torn off the upper iap on A to open the communication he finds the lower flap safely folded inside the sheet and left untouched to seal the return double card.

If it is desired to have side-sealing borders on a sheet of this description last statednamely, for aA iirst and a second sealing-I construct on each side a double-sealing border, as in Fig. 4, wherein 1 1 are the outer borders, and 2 2 are the inner borders, each border having its separate line of perforations. For the outside borders I place the mucilage on the upper fold, and on the inside borders I place the mucilage on the lower fold, to prevent both of the gummings from .becoming moistened at the first dampenin g for the first sealing; or if the sheet is to be turned, I have the mucilage for each sealing on reverse sides.

When the receiver gets the sheet through the mails, he tears off the outside border, (per printed instructions thereom) leaving the inside border to be used for sealing and returning the same sheet through the mails.

More than twoborders can be put on, if de: sired, and in some cases the iaps can be constructed and used in the same manner as these double sides, thus saving the extra paper that extends above the line M on fold A and below the line M on fold B, Fig. 4; or extensions may be added to the outside borders, 1 1, thus making the sides to have' flaps` like the tops at G with their three lines of perforations, but only extending from N on fold A to N on fold B on both sides, and cut in two on the'folding-line said cuttings extending inward as far as the inside line of perforations. In this manner the contents of packages through the mails can be inspected by the postmaster after tearing one sealing, and the remaining borders be used by him to reseal the said package.

Fig. 5 is the same as Fig. 1, with the exception that there is an additional or third fold, D, which forms the center fold, the fold B being used as before for the return postal card. It is separated from the upper portion of the sheet by the line of perforations G.

The sheet can be folded in various wayssuch as backward or forward, or Z-shaped. An additional fold or folds can be added below, :if desired.

Fig. 5 shows the address side of the sheet. To fold it, I reverse the sheet; then fold B over onto D; then both these fold together over onto A; and then to seal the flap double it on line T, as before stated. By this arrangement the return postal card B passes through the mails attached to the communication, and is received clean and in good order.

0n the center folder, which, in some cases, acts only as a protecting-cover, can be printed the business-card of the sender, and can be also severed. by a line of perforations, the whole sheet thus enabling the sender to forward his business-card with his communication, together with an nnsoiled return postalcard, and the whole communication be open at the sides, if desired, for ready inspection by the postmaster.

In some cases the inside of fold A only can be written on bythe sender, (if it is a government stamped sheet.) The inside of fold D, un-

der penal ty-notice thereof, being printed on it,

is left blank by the sender. It, being blank, can be used by the receiver for making a memorandum of his answer.

It is evident that the fold B, Fig. 5, may bel provided with an additional iiap and wings in the manner as above set forth for the sheets shown in Figs. 3 and 4. The center fold, D,I may thus be made to protect in the mails the message on the return card.

The margin between M and N, which is nec- Y essarilytorn oft' to open the sheet, and is then thrown in the waste-basket, can be utilized by having printed on the outside in bold type the name and address of the sender, which can answer the double purpose of acting while passing through the mails as the postmasters return address, and after being received and necessarily torn off to open the sheet, it having mucilage or gum on its back, can be easily pasted on an answering envelope for its superscription.

Part of the address is seen in Fig. 2, and

the mucilage or gum upon the back is shown between the lines M, N, and T, Fig. 1.

Although I rdegard the above method of carryin g out my invention as the best, modifications might be introduced without departure from the spirit thereof.

I do not wish to conne the use of the lines of perforations M, T, and N or M and N on a flap for this style of postal sheets only, for it is obvious it can be used on other ordinary or suitable forms of blanks from which a double postal card, a letter-sheet and envelope combined, can be made 5 nor do I confine them to a single loose flap of a sheet, as they ca be used on two or more naps.

In an application filed January 30, 1879, I have set forth and claimed a letter-sheet en velope having detachable sealing-margins separated by lines of perforations and a central sealing-tongue separated from the flap by a slit extending partially across it, or by line of perforations. I make no claim therefore to such a construction in this application.

Having thus described my said invention and the manner in which the same is or may be carried into effect, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A double postal card or letter-sheet envelope having a sealing-Hap with a row of perforations on each side of the line of folding said fiap for sealing, with or without an addi tional row at said folding line, the said postal card or letter-sheet being adapted to be folded as set forth, so that in folding for sealing the upper edge does not extend beyond the innermost of said double or triple row of perforations, substantially as described.

2. A doublepostal card or return letter-sheet envelope provided with a sealing-Hap at each end, the said flaps having on each side of the line of folding the saine for sealing a row of perforations, and with or without an additional row at said line, the postal card or letter-sheet being adapted to be folded as set forth, so that in the folded article, with the additional flap for return sealing folded upon the innermost of its double or triple line of perforations and inclosed, the upper edge of the folded sheet does not extend' beyond the innermost of the double or triple row of perforations of the iiap for the first sealing, substantially as specified.

3. A double postal card or siinilar article provided with detachable margins printed with a return address and coated with inueilage on thereverse side, the said margins bei n g adapted to forni the outer edge ofthe closed article and to be detached in opening the saine, substantially as described.

4. A double postal card or letter-sheet envelope with double sealing-borders on both sides or ends, each border having its distinct line of perforations7 substantially as described.

5. A double postal card or letter-shect e11- velope composed of two or more folds with a sealing-Hap at each end and a double border on each side with its distinct line of perforations7 said flaps having lines of perforations on both sides of the folding lines, and one or more of said folds being separated from the others by a severing line of perforations7 substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

LnBBEs H. Roenes.

Witnesses:

J. H. SAXTON, W. L. BURNETT. 

